Caption: Former CFO of TSTT Shiva Ramnarine and ex-CEO Lisa Agard at the JSC on Monday. Photo: T&T Parliament
By Prior Beharry
FORMER Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) Lisa Agard calls for an apology from her successor as she gave testimony before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament on Monday.
She questioned whether the current CEO Kent Western “intentionally and maliciously misled the committee” when he said that it was the (former) CEO’s office that misled the Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales with his statement to Parliament on November 1 that there was no compromise of customers’ data.
The committee was scrutinising TSTT’s handling of a cybersecurity breach on October 9, 2023.
Agard accused TSTT of not reporting the true root cause of the cyberattack that occurred on October 9,
2023, saying there was a breach before on October 3, 2023 that was not disclosed.
She said the cyber breach was made possible when there was unauthorised access to an administrator’s laptop. Agard said this administrator was still employed with the company.
She said, “When did TSTT know about the breach on October 3? Did the internal TSTT administrator not realise that she had lost her credentials? That is a serios red flag in any IT organisation.”
Agard said she was not told about this breach and only saw it in a check point report on November 10.
She said the board had forbidden her from speaking to the public after the breach.
Former CFO Shiva Ramnarine supported Agard’s claims.
Ramnarine said the cyberattack resulted from incompetence or intentional facilitation within the organisation.
He said, “I hope this committee can examine the actions taken by several parties to deflect responsibility and evade accountability regarding this unfortunate event.
“Many companies have been victims of cyberattacks, however, this one at TSTT must be differentiated from such high-level sophisticated attacks. One can even question whether this attack rose out of sheer incompetence or was intentionally facilitated,”
This prompted JSC member Rudranath Indarsingh to question whether there was a deliberate attempt to undermine TSTT, with Agard and Ramnarine becoming casualties of internal and external forces.
Agard urged the JSC to draw its own conclusions.
Ramnarine said the undermining occurred at the board level. Ramnarine attributed the alleged targeting of him and Agard to their efforts to cut costs and ensure the sustainability of TSTT.
He detailed cost-cutting initiatives, including negotiating vendor rates, which he claimed faced resistance from those accustomed to the status quo.
In January, Ramnarine was dismissed by TSTT, a move he attributed to disinformation and and his cost cutting measures.
He said, “I hope this committee can examine the actions taken by several parties to deflect responsibility and evade accountability regarding this unfortunate event.
“Many companies have been victims of cyberattacks, however, this one at TSTT must be differentiated from such high-level sophisticated attacks. One can even question whether this attack rose out of sheer incompetence or was intentionally facilitated.”
When he joined, Ramnarine said TSTT was a loss-making entity with a $3 billion debt, rising with interest.
He said he did not blindly cut spending but implemented a process which “shocked” the organisation’s culture.
Ramnarine said, “Vendors were brought in to negotiate their rates, certain rates, for example $90 an hour.
“We brought Ernst and Young to look into that. Ernst and Young said the market rate was $50 an hour. Vendors’ profitability moved down by $36 million. TSTT saved $36 million from that one transaction.”
He said, “Was there animosity between vendor and TSTT? Absolutely? Relationships with board members and those vendors? Absolutely. The former CEO knows the threats I would have received from vendors, directly and indirectly.”
TSTT Chairman Sean Roach has not responded to inquiries and Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales is awaiting the completion of the investigation into the October 2023 incident before making further comments.
